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Four athletes from the Gold Coast have been chosen to represent Queensland on the U22 Mixed Ultimate Frisbee team which will compete for a national championship in Sydney.

Two of those athletes, Bryant Stone and Krysia Davis, both 21 and both Californian study abroad students at Bond University whose home university is in Tacoma, Washington, said they were searching for an opportunity to play ultimate frisbee while in Australia.

“We came looking for ultimate and looking for a group of people we could just hang out with,” Bryant said.

After finding an ultimate pickup league at Griffith University, Bryant and Krysia grew closer with the people there and were told about the opportunity to try out for the Queensland team.

“We had to enrol online, which was a questionnaire where we had to pretty much say our skill level, our previous experience, and all of that,” Krysia said.

“We got a request for a tryout day, which, if we accepted, we had to go out to Brisbane.

“They put us through a whole bunch of drills and scrimmages, and it was just four coaches watching us and taking notes the whole time.”

Bryant’s process was a little different since he had an exam on the same day as the selection camp.

“I had to go late, so they had me do a questionnaire and then they took some player references, so people that they could email to ask about me, and then they saw how I played at the selection camp,” Bryant said.

Bryant and Krysia found out they made the team about two days after the selection camp since the coaches had to submit a roster for the tournament soon after that.

“This tournament is going to be in Sydney – it’s Nationals,” said Krysia.

“Each state gets to send one team from three different age divisions; one mixed team, one men’s team, and one women’s team, and they compete against the other states in Australia for a national title.”

“The tournament starts November 24, but we’re flying down the morning of the 23rd,” Bryant said.

“Our whole team’s never played together before because there’s a bunch of people from Townsville and there’s people down here, so we’re going a day early to practise together.”

Krysia, a Sacramento, California native, said she is most excited to represent Queensland and to play with Australians since she has never done that before.

Bryant, from Elk Grove, California, said he is most excited for the adventure and the whole experience of the weekend.

Bryant and Krysia both play in an ultimate frisbee league at their home school, and have been playing ultimate for almost two years.

While playing ultimate, Krysia is pursuing a degree in business with a minor in psychology and kinesiology, and Bryant is studying economics with a minor in math.

“Coming from playing soccer and basketball in high school, which were super fast-paced and pretty physical, it [ultimate frisbee] is right along that line, which is why I think that I love it,” Krysia said.

“It was something that, since I did pick up at university back home, I knew I needed to find it here because I wanted to continue it.”

“Everybody says it’s like a mixture of soccer and football, which is kind of interesting,” Bryant said.

“It’s pretty free-flowing; basically, you play until someone scores a point, you start over and then you kick off and play until someone scores another point.”

In ultimate, there are seven players on each team who play at one given time.

The goal of the game is to catch the disc in the opposing team’s end zone, scoring a point and restarting with the scoring team kicking off.

Games of ultimate are typically played to 13 or 15 points, but in tournaments, there’s usually a time limit.

Ultimate is self-regulated, so players make their own calls, but there are refs for particularly important games.

The central theme in ultimate is for players to maintain good sportsmanship, going along with ultimate’s ‘spirit of the game’.

The Australian National Championship will take place November 24-26 in Sydney, with the winner being crowned the national champion.

For more information on Queensland Ultimate Frisbee, visit their website at qldultimate.com.au.